III

115TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. RES. 38
Recognizing January 30, 2017, as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties
and the Constitution.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 1, 2017
Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr.
SCHATZ, Mr. BROWN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. WARREN,
Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. KAINE, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr.
COONS, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION
Recognizing January 30, 2017, as Fred Korematsu Day
of Civil Liberties and the Constitution.

Whereas, on January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu

was born in Oakland, California, to Japanese immi-
grants;
Whereas Fred Korematsu graduated from Oakland High
School in 1937 and attempted to enlist in the military
twice but was unable to do so because his selective service
classification was changed to enemy alien, even though
Fred Korematsu was a United States citizen;
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Whereas Fred Korematsu trained as a welder and worked as

a foreman at the docks in Oakland until the date on
which he and all Japanese Americans were fired;

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Whereas, on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the military
base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the United States
to declare war against Japan;
Whereas, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roo-
sevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg. 1407
(February 25, 1942)), which authorized the Secretary of
War to prescribe military areas
(1) from which any or all people could be excluded;
and
(2) with respect to which, the right of any person to
enter, remain in, or leave would be subject to any restric-
tion the Military Commander imposed in his discretion;
Whereas, on May 3, 1942, the Lieutenant General of the
Western Command of the Army issued Civilian Exclusion
Order 34 (May 3, 1942) (referred to in this preamble as
the Civilian Exclusion Order) directing that all people
of Japanese ancestry be removed from designated areas
of the West Coast after May 9, 1942, because people of
Japanese ancestry in the designated areas were consid-
ered to pose a threat to national security;
Whereas Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the Civilian
Exclusion Order and was arrested on May 30, 1942;
Whereas, after his arrest, Fred Korematsu
(1) was held in squalor for 212 months in the Pre-
sidio stockade in San Francisco, California;
(2) was convicted on September 8, 1942, of violating
the Civilian Exclusion Order and sentenced to 5 years of
probation; and
(3) was detained at Tanforan Assembly Center, a
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former horse racetrack used as a holding facility for Jap-

anese Americans before he was exiled with his family to
the Topaz internment camp in the State of Utah;
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Whereas more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were simi-
larly detained, with no charges brought and without due
process, in 10 permanent War Relocation Authority
camps located in isolated desert areas of the States of
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah,
and Wyoming;
Whereas the people of the United States subject to the Civil-
ian Exclusion Order lost their homes, livelihoods, and the
freedoms inherent to all people of the United States;
Whereas Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged the Civil-
ian Exclusion Order as it applied to him and appealed
the decision of the United States District Court to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
which sustained his conviction;
Whereas Fred Korematsu was subsequently confined with his
family in the internment camp in Topaz, Utah, for 2
years, and during that time, Fred Korematsu appealed
his conviction to the Supreme Court of the United States;
Whereas, on December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court of the
United States issued Korematsu v. United States, 323
U.S. 214 (1944), which
(1) upheld the conviction of Fred Korematsu by a
vote of 6 to 3; and
(2) concluded that Fred Korematsu was removed
from his home not based on hostility toward him or other
Japanese Americans but because the United States was
at war with Japan and the military feared a Japanese in-
vasion of the West Coast;
Whereas, in his dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United
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States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Justice Frank Murphy

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called the Civilian Exclusion Order the legalization of
racism;
Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his inno-
cence for decades following World War II, and his convic-
tion hampered his ability to gain employment;
Whereas, in 1982, legal historian Peter Irons and researcher
Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig gained access to Government doc-
uments under section 552 of title 5, United States Code
(commonly known as the Freedom of Information Act),
that indicate that while the case of Fred Korematsu was
before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Fed-
eral Government misled the Supreme Court of the United
States and suppressed findings that Japanese Americans
on the West Coast were not security threats;
Whereas, in light of the newly discovered information, Fred
Korematsu filed a writ of error coram nobis with the
United States District Court for the Northern District of
California, and on November 10, 1983, United States
District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued her decision in
Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D.
Cal. 1984), that
(1) overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu;
(2) concluded that, at the time that senior Govern-
ment officials presented their case before the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1944, the senior Govern-
ment officials knew there was no factual basis for the
claim of military necessity for the Civil Exclusion Order;
and
(3) stated that although the decision of the Supreme
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Court of the United States in Korematsu v. United

States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), remains on the pages of
United States legal and political history, [a]s historical

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precedent it stands as a constant caution that in times
of war or declared military necessity our institutions
must be vigilant in protecting constitutional guarantees;
Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Intern-
ment of Civilians, authorized by Congress in 1980 to re-
view the facts and circumstances surrounding the reloca-
tion and internment of Japanese Americans under Exec-
utive Order 9066 (7 Fed. Reg. 1407 (February 25,
1942)), concluded that
(1) the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214
(1944), is overruled by the court of history;
(2) a grave personal injustice was done to the
United States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese
ancestry who, without individual review or any probative
evidence against them, were excluded, removed, and de-
tained by the United States during World War II; and
(3) the exclusion, removal, and detention of United
States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry
was motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime
hysteria, and a failure of political leadership;
Whereas the overturning of the conviction of Fred Korematsu
and the findings of the Commission on Wartime Reloca-
tion and Internment of Civilians influenced the decision
by Congress to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50
U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) to request a Presidential apology
and the symbolic payment of compensation to people of
Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property due to dis-
criminatory actions of the Federal Government;
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Whereas, on August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed the

Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.),

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stating, [H]ere we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our
commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.;
Whereas, on January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded
the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the
United States, to Fred Korematsu, stating, [i]n the long
history of our countrys constant search for justice, some
names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls:
Plessy, Brown, Parks. To that distinguished list, today
we add the name of Fred Korematsu.;
Whereas, despite the fact that history demonstrates that dis-
criminatory actions breed immoral, unconscionable, and
unconstitutional actions levied against religious, ethnic,
and racial minorities in the name of national security, re-
cent actions by President Trump have publicly fanned re-
ligious, ethnic, and racial prejudices;
Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump issued
(1) an Executive order that suspends for 90 days
the entry into the United States of immigrants and non-
immigrants who are nationals of 7 Muslim-majority coun-
tries, prohibiting the issuance of any visa to relatives,
family members, and tourists from the 7 designated
countries based solely on the nationality of the individual;
(2) an Executive order indefinitely suspending the
admission as refugees of Syrian nationals, even though,
as of January 2017, there are more than 4,000,000 reg-
istered Syrian refugees who have fled the destructive civil
war in Syria;
(3) an Executive order slashing refugee admissions
numbers for fiscal year 2017 from 110,000 to 50,000,
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even as other countries move to take in refugees; and

(4) an Executive order directing the United States
Refugee Assistance Program to prioritize refugee claims

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based on religious persecution in which the religion of the
refugee is a minority religion in the country of nationality
of the refugee, a priority that singles out for exclusion
members of the Islamic faith;
Whereas Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advocate for
civil liberties and justice throughout his life by
(1) speaking out against racial discrimination and
violence targeting Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and Sikh
Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001, trag-
edy; and
(2) cautioning the Federal Government against re-
peating mistakes of the past that singled out individuals
for heightened scrutiny on the basis of race, ethnicity,
nationality, or religion;
Whereas, on March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died at the
age of 86 in Larkspur, California;
Whereas Fred Korematsu is a role model for all people of the
United States who love the United States and the prom-
ises contained in the Constitution of the United States,
and the strength and perseverance of Fred Korematsu
serve as an inspiration for all people who strive for equal-
ity and justice; and
Whereas the recent actions of President Trump run directly
counter to the history and legacy of justice exemplified by
Fred Korematsu: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the Senate
2 (1) honors Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu for
3 his
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4 (A) loyalty and patriotism to the United

5 States;

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1 (B) work to advocate for the civil rights
2 and civil liberties of all people of the United
3 States; and
4 (C) dedication to justice and equality;
5 (2) recognizes January 30, 2017, as Fred
6 Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitu-
7 tion; and
8 (3) denounces any governmental effort to dis-
9 criminate against any individual based on the na-
10 tional origin or religion of the individual.

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